Is 3-years degree of Mass Communication ?
Mass Communication course is an overall branch like science, commerce, engineering. It is used to collectively describe the academic study of various specializations like newspaper journalism ,magazine journalism, radio journalism, television journalism, film direction ,cinematography, editing ,sound recording, screenplay writing and photography .
This little bit of everything is offered in a 3 years degree program commonly known as “Bachelors in Journalism and Mass Communication” -BJMC or 2-years’ “Masters in Journalism and Mass Communication”-MJMC. What happens when these graduates of Mass Communication program apply for work in the field ? They fit into the category of people who can commonly be called “Jack of all trades and master of none”. Today, there are many such degree colleges which offer mass communication course in Delhi. They have mushroomed up by seeking affiliation from some university where the practical specialized knowledge is missing. Imagine 60 students sitting in one classroom of any such media colleges for mass communication course in India where one cannot think of imparting practical training to them. For example : how to edit on Final Cut Pro or for that matter how to shoot/light up in a studio, how to record sound, or how to write a screenplay which has to be done by one person at one time etc.
A mass communication degree eventually should lead to a career which is currently not happening, simply because the so called graduates from these mass communication colleges do not have any specialization and have to compete with student who in spite of having a diploma are specialized in their field be it editing, camera, or direction.
Then one needs to ask why is this course being offered? Why are MCRC & IIMC being set up by the government and the same course being offered in many other universities? The oldest specialization of the mass communication course is “Print Journalism” and extends to TV journalism in the beginning of 1990.
One has to have some knowledge of shooting, editing and delivering the final program if he/she wishes to be a TV news reporter/anchor. This was the need which was kept in mind while setting up institutes like MCRC, which offers Masters in mass Communication degree under Jamia Milia Islamia. It has produced many documentary film makers who were equally capable to produce short documentary films called “news program” and this was the need of setting up 2 years master in Mass communication degree.
Realizing the media boom, many universities (whose motto is to make money) started affiliation to various institutes to offer this overall course. No university in this country wants to take the pain to offer various specialization courses at graduation (except print journalism, which is offered at 3 year graduation level) and post graduation level like- television journalism, film direction, cinematography, editing ,sound recording, screenplay writing, photography) as it requires expensive equipment and hence number of seats cannot be more than 10 which is not a profitable venture considering investment required and profit generated from 10-students as the fee cannot be kept very high.
Why should I pursue a mass communication degree?
One should go for a 3 year mass communication course if one wants to find out what does one want to become ? But wait ! In the present scenario, where Google has all the information that one requires, do you still want to waste 3 years of your life in finding out what you want to become? Just type out few relevant keywords in the search engine and you will get various websites which will give you detailed explanation and overview of various media courses- film and video editing, cinematography, TV journalism, print journalism ,script writing, event management ( please read about media courses and not media course as there is nothing called media course) available in the market. In the private sector no one cares if one has a degree/diploma/certificate in any specialized field because all that matters is whether a person knows the job or not. One needs to have a SHOWREEL (DVD featuring a compilation of the practical work) that can give the other person an idea of your ability as an editor, TV journalist, actor, director etc.
Such fields are attracting a lot of youngsters these days and why not when it has to offer such interesting career options in these fields. But wait ! Institutions like MCRC whose relevance mattered only before the arrival of private institutions and till the time when three years’ bachelor degree program were not introduced, it carried its hype.
A much wiser decision was to set up IIMC–JNU which is a very “fine focused” course and offers one year specialized diploma. Who cares if it is called degree/diploma as long as you know your job ? Imagine FTII Pune still calls its 3 year course as a diploma course !!
IIMC, JNU have more appropriate vision to offer one year specialized program like, English journalism, Hindi journalism, Public relations and adverting, TV journalism. Hence one knows exactly that one year program what one would like to become. Please bear in mind that institutions such as IIMC, JNU do not offer a 2-year degree in mass communication courses which other mass communication colleges in Delhi do !!
Today we are living in a time of micro specialization where just saying “I am “photographer” does not make any sense till one says “I am a fashion photographer, I am a wildlife photographer, I am a photo journalist etc.” Hence, if one is an expert in some area, there are many more chances to be hired when one goes in the market to state “I am a cinematographer” or “I am an editor” or “I am a script writer” rather than saying “I am a graduate in Mass Communication”!!!
Such specialization students have an edge over graduates having a degree in Mass Communication.
We offer following specialization courses.
1 Year Fashion Photography & Videography
1 Year Sound Recording & Audio Engineering
1 Year Cinematography
1 Year Film Direction
1 Year Creative Writing (Screenplay, Dialogue, Story)
1 Year Film & Video Editing (Non Linear)
6 Months Acting & Modeling
1-year T.V Journalism, News Reading & Anchoring
1-year Public Relations Advertising & Event Management
If the above explanation makes sense to you then please apply now !
1 Year v/s 3 Years
The only film schools in India which offer 3-years diploma program are FTII-Pune and SRFTII-Calcutta. Since CRAFT institution has been established by former FTII graduates who has worked in the industry for 15-20 years, we also asked the same question. If we should conduct the 3 years program or a crisp one year program ?
In FTII, the first year is common course and there is specialization during 2nd year you have specialization and the 3rd year is meant only for projects -Diploma, dialogue, mise-en-scene, Ad film etc. Every year FTII has a break of 2-months for summer vacation and 1 month for winter vacation. In the 3rd year there are barely 30 shooting days. The effective number of teaching and shooting period for projects is just ONE year.
Hence, our board members have decided that we should only have a one-year program and that too in a tight schedule where there are no holidays. We follow a policy that whenever the bank is closed, we are also closed otherwise we are open.
For this reason when something can be taught in one year, why should one waste 2 extra years of the students which they can use for working in the film industry where one will gain experience and develop contacts which are much more beneficial. Hence after 3 years, our students have this advantage over those who graduate from the three year course that they have 2 years of industry experience and have contacts developed during the 2 years because whether you do a 1 year course or a 3 years, one has to begin the career as an assistant whether one wishes to become an independent Cameraman, Director, Editor, Sound Recording Artist etc.
Now one has to ask a question!
Does one need to have 3 years to “gain the confidence” that one can become a cinematographer/director/editor, or is one year enough to gain this confidence?
If it makes sense to you then please apply now !
realted article.
* Best Mass Communication Colleges in India
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